0 15-08-2017 AUDREY WORKINGS OF POWER IN THE 100: LINDELAUF PARADOXES IN POST-APOCALYPTIC SOCIETIES 1 Abstract This study is an attempt to determine what role power plays in post-apocalyptic audio-visual culture and what influence it has on the nature of the dystopian post-apocalyptic film genre. The emergence of post-apocalypticism in American popular culture in the 21st century has led to a projection of our collective hopes and fears onto film worlds. The empty canvas of a world without ideologies, law, governments, or religion allows for a complete re-imagining of social life. The American dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction drama series The 100 (2014 –) is used as a case study. This thesis examines the way in which power operates in relation to politics and gender in three societies within its fictional world, using the theories and ideas of Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984). Said collective hopes and fears are represented simultaneously in the paradoxical roots of these communities. The society of the Mountain Men seems to be based on ‘contaminated purity’ when looking at their culture, heritage and physicality, the society of the Grounder Clans appears to have its roots in ‘female masculinity’ with an emphasis on violence, and the society of the Sky People gives the impression of ‘civilized primitiveness’, highlighting continuous surveillance. Since the Sky People are implicitly divided in the Arkadians and the Hundred, they are the more complex community and are therefore explored in further detail. They are also the ones that transcend the other two societies in their social progressivity. It becomes clear that all instances of power dynamics have become internalized and normalized, creating individual self- regulation. The three paradoxical roots of these societies lead up to the grand paradox of the genre itself, constructing a ‘utopian dystopia’ in which the post-apocalyptic world is glorified. Keywords Dystopian fiction, gender, femininity, leadership, masculinity, post-apocalypticism, power, purification, societies, surveillance, The 100, violence, utopianism. 2 3 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5 1. Theories & Concepts ................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 World-Making ....................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Social Contract Theory .......................................................................................................... 11 1.3 Power ..................................................................................................................................... 13 1.4 Gender ................................................................................................................................... 15 2. Contaminated Purity ................................................................................................................... 18 2.1 The Mountain Men ................................................................................................................ 18 2.2 Politics ................................................................................................................................... 19 2.2.1 Leadership: Dante Wallace vs. Cage Wallace .............................................................. 19 2.2.2 Power & Responsibility ................................................................................................. 20 2.3 Gender: Patriarchy & Culture ................................................................................................ 21 2.4 Purification ............................................................................................................................ 22 3. Female Masculinity ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 The Grounder Clans .............................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Indigenousness & Primitiveness............................................................................................ 26 3.3 Violence................................................................................................................................. 28 3.4 Politics ................................................................................................................................... 30 3.4.1 Leadership: Commander Lexa ...................................................................................... 31 3.4.2 Power & Responsibility ................................................................................................. 32 3.5 Gender: Female Masculinity ................................................................................................. 34 4. Civilized Primitiveness ................................................................................................................ 36 4.1 The Sky People ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.2 Surveillance ........................................................................................................................... 40 4.3 Politics ................................................................................................................................... 42 4.3.1 Leadership: Bellamy Blake vs. Clarke Griffin ............................................................... 43 4 4.3.2 Leadership: Clarke Griffin vs. Abby Griffin .................................................................. 48 4.3.3 Power & Responsibility ................................................................................................. 49 4.4 Feminism ............................................................................................................................... 53 4.4.1 Raven Reyes as the Rocket Scientist .............................................................................. 55 4.4.2 Octavia Blake as the Combat Warrior .......................................................................... 57 Conclusion: Utopian Dystopia ............................................................................................................ 60 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 63 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 65 5 Introduction When I started watching the television series The 100 a few years ago, I was struck by the non-traditional elements that it contained. First, the protagonists often acted in morally ambiguous ways and made mistakes, whereas the antagonists were able to redeem themselves more than once, creating a large grey area without boundaries between the good and the bad guys. Second, in its post-apocalyptic world, not one, but three new societies had emerged and one is still in the process of development, thereby the series distinguishes itself from other dystopian films in the same genre. Third, the most successful leaders in all layers of society seem to be young women, which is a radicalization of the rise of the female hero in recent years. And fourth, being queer is just as normal as being heterosexual. These four instant observations I made as a fan, made me want to analyze some of these elements in more detail. I realized that the key concept to all of those aspects is power. Not possessed power, but the power dynamics that circulate among and between the three societies that are introduced. Moreover, what consequences those power dynamics have not only for the respective societies, but for the post-apocalyptic genre as a whole. Politics and gender were used as the two main realms of power, because the TV series highlights these aspects the most. Especially the combination between politics and gender, in this case resulting in female leadership, is relevant for our world today. On International Women’s Day this year, a statue of a little girl was placed across the iconic bronze bull statue on Wall Street. According to the artist, Kristen Visbal, the girl is about seven years old, has her hands on her hips and looks defiantly at the larger creature mere feet from her. The plaque that accompanies ‘The Fearless Girl’ holds engraved the following words: “Know the Power of Women in Leadership, SHE makes a difference”. Pictures of the statue went viral on social media in the following hours and many women came to see it in person. All of this happened about a year after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made public that half of his cabinet was going to exist of female politicians. In Western contemporary society there seems to be a growing discussion on gender equality in powerful positions. Political scholar Michael Genovese argues that very little research has been done on this topic because of two reasons: scholars who do research political leadership are very often men, and nearly all national political leaders that we know in our world have been men (Genovese,